From J. Stanley Gardiner (1898), "The Natives of Rotuma," Journal
of the Royal Anthropological Institute 27:470-476.

XVI. WARFARE.

In the island of Rotuma there was always, as has before been indicated,
a great rivalry between Noatau and Faguta under their respective chiefs,
Marafu and Riemkou. With Noatau usually went Oinafa and Malaha, while
Faguta had Itoteu and Itomotu. This gave a considerable superiority
in numbers to Faguta, but it was usually equalised by a division in
Itoteu, the north side of which was always at variance with the south,
both sides claiming the right to the chieftainship. Probably the original
cause was due to the conquest of the island by the Niuafoou people,
who seem to have settled and intermarried mainly in the northern districts.
There was never any difficulty in finding a reason, if a fight was
desired, as any pretext could be seized on. The chief of one district
might fail to pay the proper marks of respect to the sou,
if he belonged to the other district, or, if tributary, might omit
to send his tribute. If no cause came to hand readily, the chief of
one district would steal a woman out of the other district, and then,
without waiting for the other district to demand her return, would
declare war himself. No violence was offered to the woman, nor indeed
to any woman during the war; the women simply followed their several
districts, and ministered to their wounded.

There were no great advantages to be gained from the war by the winning
side. The villages of the vanquished might be sacked, but they were
seldom burnt; their plantations might be overrun, but there was little
wilful destruction. All pigs were, of course, regarded as legitimate
spoil. The vanquished would perhaps promise to pay to the conquerors
so many baskets of provisions or so many mats and canoes, a promise
which was always faithfully and speedily performed, even though they
might accompany the last part of the payment with a fresh declaration
of war. The victorious side obtained no territorial aggrandisement,
as it was to the common interest of all to maintain the integrity of
the land, and the victors might on some future occasion be themselves
in the position of the vanquished. Nominally first-fruits were claimed
by the victors from the chief of the vanquished, or perhaps the victors
might depose the conquered chiefs, and put nominees of their own in
their places. Small unruly chiefs of their own districts were often
got rid of in this way. Such a course had, however, relatively little
permanence, as the chiefs formed a kind of caste of their own, entrance
into which followed birth very jealously. There was no such thing as
indiscriminate slaughter or debauchery of the women after a fight.
A faksoro(p.
408) of a root of kava and a pig from
the conquered was always respected for one night. Both sides remained
where they were, as if an armistice had been concluded between them.
Unless a fresh faksoro, with food sufficient
for all, was presented on the following morning, hostilities would
be resumed, but usually peace was arranged before this.

There was always a distinct declaration of war of some sort. It was
not uncommon for the chief of the one side to send to the chief of
the other a definite challenge for a particular day and place. If a
canoe of one district passed in front of the chief's house in another
district without lowering its sail, a faksoro for
the insult would be demanded, and if not forthcoming, war would be
declared at once. If war was not declared, it was tantamount to the
submission of the insulted chief.

Warfare in Rotuma was the exact opposite to what it was in Fiji. The
women were never molested; ambushes and surprises were unheard of.
The two sides met usually on the more or less flat land by the beach,
and a regular battle between them ensued. Previously the atua of
both sides were propitiated by the different hoag separately.
There were no common district rights. Tagaloa Siria was not invoked,
according to Marafu, as such small matters did not concern him, and,
as he was the god of both sides, it was quite unnecessary. On the night
before the battle, great feasts and dances were held by both sides,
and the latter were usually repeated by the two sides, when opposite
one another in the field, before the battle commenced. All were clothed
in a kukaluga or the taktakoi,
and decorated with flowers; on the head was the war hat, a wooden or
bamboo framework covered with tappa and ornamented with the long tail
feathers of the boatswain bird. Round the neck of each, there was sure
to be a charm, while the bodies of all were smeared with turmeric and
the soot of the hifo nut. There usually
were two or three lines of veterans, differently armed, while behind
these followed the young men and boys, with stones or any weapons they
might happen to have. In late wars the chief weapon was of course the
gun, with which the first line was armed. A second line, armed with
long, pointed sticks, termed uok, took
the offensive when they came to close quarters; they again were speedily
followed by the clubmen. In the old days the battle commenced usually
with a shower of stones, and then a rush would be made by the first
line, armed with the uok, the second line,
armed with clubs, following on their heels. The chief, with his hoag,
was usually in the centre, and here there were three lines: the uok men
and then a few men armed with a shark's-tooth weapon, the oikoaga,
and lastly the clubmen, among whom was the chief. The young men and
boys during the whole time kept up an incessant fire of stones over
the heads of these lines, and acted on the flanks. Stones held in the
hands were likewise weapons used in close quarters; they were termed hofso.
The best of these were made out of one of the bivalve shells of the
giant Tridacna, ground down to a more or less oval shape. A
groove, too, in them was commonly worked for the thumb, so that a firmer
grip might be obtained. Others were of lava or basalt, and were used
indifferently for striking or throwing. The oikoaga was
described to me as a weapon, about 6 feet long, with a long round handle,
1 inch thick, knobbed at the end. The other end was broadened out to
about 5 inches, and set between slips of bamboo, tied on, were the
re-curved teeth of a shark, probably one of the Carchariidae. The top
of the handle was described to me as paddle-shaped. It was always a
very rare weapon, and much prized. I have the end of one 27 inches
long. The central stick has evidently been smoothed down with great
care with a shark's-skin file, and holes have been bored completely
through it for the sinnet, with which the teeth are tied on. Two or
three holes are bored through the several teeth for the sinnet, which
is exceptionally neatly made. The bamboo slips are underneath the sinnet;
their object is evidently to keep the teeth in their place on the edge
of the main stick. The idea of the weapon was to seize an enemy with
it and draw him out of his line, while one of the warriors of the third
line clubbed him to death. Another shark's-tooth weapon was the knife, oi
fo pilte; I am not certain, though, whether it was really a
Rotuman weapon or not. The one in my possession is about 28 inches
long, and seems typical of the Tokalau, or Gilbert islands. The handle
is in section nearly square and about 6 inches long; the teeth are
not recurved, and are set in two grooves, cut in the edge of the sticks.
The teeth are firmly bound on with sinnet through one hole in each
tooth, while the holes through the stick are set well back. The groove
for the teeth stops short about 1 inch from the end, which is somewhat
pointed.

The club, or oipeluga,
is of the general type shown in Mr. Edge Partington's illustrations;
its length is from 3 1/2-4 feet. The transversely carved lines of the
end are very characteristic. The transverse section here is that of
a much-flattened rhombus, and these lines rise from the sides to the
centre at regular intervals, and join with those of the opposite side
on the same face of the club. They are cut regularly from the bottom
for 2-3 inches perhaps, and then one on one of the sides of the rhombus
is left uncut; it will be cut in the other three sides of the rhombus.
On the other side of the rhombus, on the same side of the club, it
will be the next of these grooves that will be left uncut. On the other
side of the club two neighbouring grooves to the above will be left.
Then perhaps all will be cut for another interval of 2-3 inches, and
four will be left uncut precisely as before. At the top of this part,
they are not always the two next one another that are left uncut. This
cutting I believe to be quite typical of Rotuma; the three in my own
collection are all carved in this way, and so likewise are one in the
British Museum and one, which I saw in Fiji. Two in my possession have
carved handles; all the carving is in straight lines, but on one are
some figures of sharks and lizards. One club in my possession was used
by the great-grandfather or granduncle of Marafu in the war against
Riemkou about 1800 (p. 473). The balance
of all is excellent and well adapted to their use as two-handed swords.
Used as an axe, like a Fijian club, they would not be nearly such efficient
weapons. The spear, or jou(p.
463), was not used for anything save processions, but the uok,
a pointed stake about 8-9 feet long, took its place; it was described
to me as generally perfectly round, pointed at both ends, and used
for both thrusting and striking.

The earliest war remembered is spoken of as
the "great Malaha war." There were two brothers, Kunou and Maragsou,
who lived with their sister Suogmasto in Malaha. In their turn on the
occasion of a feast, the three prepare food, and carry it to the sou,
who was at that time dwelling in Savelei. The brothers placed their
food on the ground outside the sou's house,
or sou ura, but the girl, being, of a
chief family, entered to place her food in the kokona (p.
422). She was then made to place it on the ground, and told to
stop with the sou. The sou in
fact wanted to make Suogmasto his fanoga,
as he had a perfect right to do. The right, however, was not generally
insisted upon, and here the great insult came in in the fact that he
had not sent his old fanoga away first,
nor sent his tonhida, or messenger, and
other officers to summon Suogmasto and escort her to him. After the
feast the brothers found out about the insult, and accordingly took
Tua, the chief of Malaha, and made him the sou,
establishing him in Matusa. But soon they took him away from there
and brought him back to Malaha, leaving his cousin, a Malaha man, called
Froumontou, to look after everything in Matusa. Riemkou, on Tua's return
to Malaha, at once proceeded up the island to Matusa, and conferred
the office of sou on Froumontou, who had
managed to much ingratiate himself with the people of Itoteu and Itomotu.
He then took him along the south side of the island, and established
him in Faguta. In consequence of Riemkou's action, Marafu stepped in,
and as a result the sides in the war were Noatau, Oinafa, and Malaha
v. Faguta, Itoteu, and Itomotu, or Marafu v. Riemkou. The fighting
is said to have taken place all along the line, to have been continuous
for several days, and the slaughter to have been enormous; nearly all
the young men on both sides are said to have been killed, and many
whole villages to have been completely depopulated. The brunt of the
fighting really fell on Noatau and Faguta, but in Malaha alone over
one hundred are said to have fallen. The date is given by Froumontou,
who was the paternal great-grandfather of Albert. Albert is about sixty-six
years old, and, if to this thirty years is added for the two generations
between him and Froumontou, the date would be placed at the beginning
of this century.

There was another war, in 1858, between Malaha and Itoteu; the indirect
cause was Christianity, which Malaha had embraced, while Itoteu still
remained firm to its old religion. In it Malaha was worsted, and lost
about fifty killed. A ship present at the time assured the victory
to Itoteu by lending them guns and other weapons and sending her crew
to assist in the fray; they afterwards, too, took away a considerable
number of men from Malaha as labourers.

After the "great Malaha war "was a long period of quiescence, due
to the exhaustion of both sides and the changes, which naturally followed
the coming of the white man. The enmity between Marafu and Riemkou
still however continued, and was only waiting for an opportunity to
give rise to open hostilities. At last about 1837 Marafu obtained a
small cannon off one of the whalers, and an opportunity was soon found.
The immediate cause seems to have been that the chief of Teukoi, in
Itoteu, passed by the sou in Faguta in
his canoe without lowering its sail. At the time he was on his way
up to see Marafu, to beg a pig from him to take to a woman in Faguta,
as a faksoro for some offence or other.
Riemkou, as, when the sou was in his district,
he was his protector, was furious at the insult, and arranged to intercept
the canoe on its return to Teukoi, but this failed, as the canoe was
taken home along the north side and round the west end of the island.
Messages passed in consequence between Riemkou and Marafu, but the
latter settled the matter by going up to Teukoi along the south side
and passing the sou with his sail set,
and without loosing his hair. Riemkou then sent to Marafu to challenge
him to return along the south side of the island, and received a reply
from Marafu that that was what he intended to do. Meantime the Noatau
people came through the bush to Teukoi, dragging the cannon with them.
This cannon is said to have been the first firearm used by the natives
in war. That night a big dance was held in Teukoi, and on the following
morning Marafu moved up along the south side and met Riemkou in Faguta.
At first the cannon struck terror into the people of Faguta, but they
soon rallied, as after the first few shots it got clogged, and a fierce
battle ensued. More than one hundred of the Noatau men were killed,
and among these Marafu, but the war was quickly concluded, as Riemkou
allowed the Noatau people to carry the body of Marafu away and bury
it on the hill of Seselo, as he had formerly been sou;
the cannon also was taken away and placed as a gravestone over Marafu.
A great number of pigs and an immense quantity of vegetables and mats
were paid as indemnity and for ransom. The loss on Riemkou's side is
said to have been but slight.

The office of sou was
abolished after a war known as the "Matusa war" in 1869 or 1870. While
the rest of the island was for the most part Roman Catholic or Wesleyan,
the south side of Itoteu and to some extent the north side also still
clung to the old religion; the people of Matusa and Losa, and indeed
of the whole of the west end of Itoteu, were Christian. Taurantoka
was chief of Itoteu, and had a sou in
Savelei; Morseu was the minor chief of Losa and Halafa, while Mafroa
was acting for his father along the north side of Itoteu; none of these
were Christians. It really commenced by Morseu keeping on continually
taking pigs from Losa and Halafa, till these places got exasperated
and refused to give him any more, threatening to shoot any one, they
might find taking them. Their leader in this was Fakamanoa, a big name
in Itoteu, and the father of its present chief. Induced however by
a native Fijian missionary, they took as a faksoro to
Morseu a pig and a root of kava. He accepted
it, but on the next day seized a pig, and on the day after, trying
to seize another, he was resisted, and a deputation sent to Taurantoka
with a root of kava; Taurantoka, in reply,
promised to take Losa and Halafa under his own charge. Meantime Mafroa
and his father had been baptised into the Wesleyan body, and refused ipso
facto to have anything to do with the sou.
Taurantoka at once declared war; the white missionary stepped in and
tried to stop it, but a fight was inevitable. It was then the south
side of Itoteu, under Taurantoka and Morseu, against the rest of Itoteu,
under Fakamanoa, Mafroa, and Albert. The latter was a man of considerable
influence, owing to his connection with the missions of a chief family,
and living in Matusa. The battle took place almost in Matusa, on the
road along the south side of the island, at dawn, lasting till midday.
Nearly all the fighting was on the relatively open beach flat; it consisted
of desultory firing from behind cocoanut trees. About sixty of Taurantoka's
people were killed before he took to flight. As a result the office
of sou was abolished, Taurantoka and Morseu
baptised, and Albert, who had shown throughout very conspicuous bravery,
made chief of Itoteu.

The last great war was in 1878, and was practically Wesleyans vs.
Roman Catholics. Really it was largely brought about by white men,
working on the old enmity between Marafu and Riemkou. It arose through
the intrigues of Albert, who wished at the council meetings of the
chiefs to get his name called for kava before
that of Tavo, the chief of Oinafa. Riemkou was supporting him, as he
was jealous of Marafu, who was both chief of his district and fakpure,
or head chief, of the island. Albert then in a meeting at Oinafa brought
up his own matter and that of Marafu's two offices; Marafu replied
through his brother Hauseu, who was his spokesman, or hoasog,
that, as far as the chieftainship of his district was concerned, it
was no business of theirs, and that, as he was entitled to receive
the kava first, it was his business to
see that it was called to all in their proper order. Riemkou did not
attend the next meeting of the council, and, as he refused to pay a
fine, it was considered equivalent to a declaration of war. A white
missionary then, called Moore, seems to have gone to Albert, and also
into Malaha and Oinafa, practically preaching a war against the Roman
Catholics. As a result, Riemkou brought a faksoro to
Marafu, who accepted it; and to settle the matter Riemkou let himself
be baptised a Wesleyan. The Wesleyans, who had begun to gather, were
dispersed, and Riemkou at once turned Roman Catholic again. Marafu,
who at that time was called Hauseu, informed me that then there was
no question of war, and that the affair was considered settled until
this missionary came and practically began to preach a war of extermination
against the Roman Catholics. Accordingly the Roman Catholics gathered
in Faguta from the whole island, and prepared for resistance, digging
out the interiors of their houses for rifle pits. The result was never
for a moment doubtful. On the first day twenty-two men were killed,
and the Roman Catholics driven on to a small isthmus, where they were
blockaded for two months. At last Riemkou was killed, and all submitted.
Throughout the whole war Marafu protected the Roman Catholic missionaries,
their church and property, and steadily refused to allow any land to
be taken from the conquered.